University of South Florida
Notre Dame
Bulls Battle No. 20 Irish to Tie in Double OT, 1-1
September 23, 2011 | Women's Soccer
By TOM ZEBOLD USF Senior Writer TAMPA - The Bulls stood toe-to-toe with the defending national champions and didn't stumble one bit on national television. Valorie O'Brien's dramatic header with less than 4 minutes in regulation tied it and the USF women's soccer team remained the aggressor for the remainder of Thursday night's 1-1 double-overtime tie against Notre Dame at Corbett Soccer Stadium. “The relentless pursuit to score a goal really paid off,” said head coach Denise Schilte-Brown, whose Bulls played before a crowd of 1,124 that was the third-largest in the program's history. No. 20 Notre Dame grabbed the lead in the first half when Lauren Bohaboy took a pass from Rebecca Twining and crossed it into the net in the 27th minute. The score stayed that way until the break when Schilte-Brown set the tone for what would be a very wild second half. “I really felt like the team bought in at halftime that 1-0 was a good place for us to be,” she said. “(Notre Dame) could come out complacent. They could come out tired. This was a tough trip on them. This was our home base and those fans came out for us and we're going to make the most of this.” USF seized the moment after the talk and came out with a renewed fire that would be tested repeatedly. Numerous shots by Chelsea Klotz narrowly missed throughout the game, especially in the 68th minute when one rocketed just wide of the net to the left. She fired a shot that Irish keeper Maddie Fox barely tipped over the net a few minutes before. Demi Stokes also was close to tying it up when she split defenders and almost put one over the diving Fox. “I felt like there were two or three balls that were really ours,” Schilte-Brown said. O'Brien made all USF's hard work pay off in the 86th minute with a play she's practiced countless times. “Demi made a great run to save the ball and send it across,” O'Brien said. “I think we cut them off-guard and Molly (Stack) sent a perfect ball in. I suddenly realized there was no one on me and this is my chance.” O'Brien was positioned perfectly in front of the net and scored her second goal of the season on a header. “I've worked on it 1,000 times,” she admitted. “I kind of went through the motions and made sure it saw the back of the net.” The goal marked USF's first-ever score in four matches against the Irish. “It was a good moment,” Schilte-Brown said. USF (4-3-3) will look to carry the momentum from its triumph into Sunday's 1 p.m. Big East test against DePaul back at Corbett Soccer Stadium.
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